Generation Grow
Generation Grow is a curriculum and school improvement program focused on environmental literacy for elementary school children in order to emphasize the importance of stopping climate change. This project was developed as a part of the Global Innovation Exchange between Texas State University students and Oulu University students in Finland to address global mega trends. The mega trend our team was tasked with was Climate Change and Resource Scarcity and to create a solution that could be globally applied. Our team was comprised of myself, Austin Farar, Kayla Cotton, and Hannah Ochoa.
Ideation and Research: All Teammates
Survey Implementation: Hannah Ochoa
Curriculum Development: Kayla Cotton, Hannah Ochoa, Riley Taber
Logo and Web: Riley Taber
Posters: Austin Farar
We began our process by brainstorming the effects of climate change on a large scale, for example increased extreme weather events, habitat loss for animals, and changes to farming operations. We also considered the solutions already in place for some of these issues and researched some basic statistics about the issue. From this brainstorm and ideation mapping, we were able to develop some “How Might We…” questions. From our large pool of questions, we combined and adjusted to get three main points. From these points we considered possible solutions or groups that help. Before settling on a final “How Might We…” we considered assumptions related to climate change generally and our possible solutions and then we also considered possible experts in the field that could be helpful sources. With all this in mind, our first prototype was created from the question “How might we engage people in environmental education and literacy?” with three solutions regarding school curriculum, after school programs, and community gardening.
With further prototyping and feedback from our local and global peers, we began to develop a curriculum program that included a school garden to promote environmentally conscious habits in kids along with environmental literacy to establish a base understanding of our changing world. To get feedback from the people this program would impact the most, we created surveys for teachers, parents, and kids on their understanding of environmental literacy in schools.
With this survey we were able to get an incredible 181 responses from educators. This allowed us to gain a lot of insight into our users, along with a sense of public opinion regarding our topic. The above graphic is a selection of some questions from our survey along with the answers that shapped our next decisions. There was something important that teachers brought up in the open feedback section however that we didn’t consider. Many of these teachers were concerned about adding more to their plates when they are already overflowing. Classroom sizes are increasing regularly and a lot of teachers struggle with teaching just the core subjects due to logistical problems. Moving forward we had to ensure that this program could be another tool or asset to teachers rather than a burden.
From this survey, we developed our four main goals for the program then curriculum for each elementary grade level based around accomplishing these goals. When deciding the curriculum order, we decided to split the school into three phases: The Classroom, The School, and The Community. This would address the fact that the early programs focused on changing habits in the classroom and then when more cognitive function was developed moving up until the oldest students engage with the community outside of school to bring their knowledge through their life. Listed below are our planned projects for each grade level. All this curriculum would also be used in tandem with a school garden that would be maintained by students and teachers. Not only will this serve as a tool to get kids outside and learning about nature, but it will also allow the whole school to bond over a common goal of sustaining life.
BRANDING and starter kit
With curriculum plans in place, we moved to create a brand for our program. The name generation grow is meant to express the need for young students of today to grow together to help the earth grow. Our slogan is “Every Day Should Be Earth Day” to stress the importance of environmental awareness and literacy. The website page is an introduction for interested teachers or administration to sign up their schools to get curriculum plans along with a Starter Kit for their school garden. This kit would include necessary supplies like dirt, shovels, seeds, and a collection of posters that could be hung in classrooms or school common areas. The program would hopefully be able to gain some corporate sponsors to contribute to the kit to make it more accessible for lower income teachers and schools. generation grow can be implemented globally at any level with adjustments to curriculum and supplies that are appropriate for the environment.
